Free London Museums

Since the capital of England is known as the City of Museums, that means that there is a lot of them and they are covering many themes and historic periods. These places could even be called the time machines, as they perfectly transport their visitors to the past with thousands of objects on display. But – many who come from far away countries to London as tourists, already have to pay a lot of money for the journey, and of course, for accommodation. These people would like to see as many things in the UK’s capital as possible with spending the smallest possible amount of money. And that is why the museums with the free admission are so important – Free London Museums will allow their visitors to step inside completely free and take a look at what’s on display. Museums with free admission might even make those who are not interested in history to step inside and maybe even become genuinely interested about. This list will present you the top five Free London Museums, all of them being world-class and definitely worth paying a visit to – millions of annual visitors just can’t be wrong!

Museum of London

Established in 1976, this particular museum is located on the London Wall – that is one of the most famous streets in the capital, as it still has some fragments of the original wall that was built by Romans. As Museum of London is really close to the well-known Barbican Centre, it is a part of the complex of the buildings with a pretty innovative approach to design. The complex was built in the sixties and seventies, in order to repair and reconstruct the area that was badly damaged by German bombings in the Second World War. Visitors can take a look at many interesting things in the Museum of London – there are models, diagrams, pictures, artifacts and some interactive displays. The most interesting exhibitions at this place are, for example, “London before London” which transports the visitors back to the prehistoric times, or even “World City” which has its focus on London as a modern city, from the 1950s to our time.

Founded back in 1857, the Science Museum is definitely one of the best Free London Museums. It is located on the famous Exhibition Road, in South Kensington. It is no wonder why this museum has a stunning number of three million visitors every single year – that is the result of a combination of a free admission and a huge number of objects on display – there is over 300,000 of them! All of these objects have something to do with science, hence the name of the museum. The Science Museum has a basement, the lower ground and the ground floor, and there are also five floors above – it is pretty hard to get bored here. The ground floor is pretty interesting – there is an IMAX 3D cinema, as well as the Energy Hall, The Theatre and the exhibition about the space exploration. Other floors have exhibitions like Mathematics, Veterinary History, Flight, Computing, Watches and Clocks, Agriculture and many, many more.

Visiting Address: Exhibition Road, SW7 2DD London

Imperial War Museum

This museum was built in the honor of the war effort of the United Kingdom during the Great War (which is now known as the First World War). This museum is famous across the country as it has a few branches, with one on the Lambeth Street in London as the parent building. The other branches would be the Duxford one, in Cambridgeshire (opened in 1976), the Churchill War Rooms in London (opened to public in 1984), the Belfast (ship) in London (opened in 1978), and the one in Manchester, which is the youngest as it opened in 2002. The Great War is not the only war covered in this museum, but every single military campaign of the United Kingdom and its empire. The parent museum on the Lambeth Street, founded in 1917, has a load of objects for the visitors to take a look at – like the vehicles, photographs, a large library and so on – which is pretty great in the combination with free admission.

Visiting Address: Lambeth Road, SE1 6HZ London

British Museum

List of the Free Museums in London is not possible without mentioning the British Museum – this is one of the best and most famous museums in the world, and having a free admission is just a big plus. Established all the way back in the 18th century, in 1753, this grand building can be found on the Great Russel Street and is constantly busy – six million visitors come here very year to take a look at the large collection of objects, 8 million of them, which are distributed across the so-called Departments. These Departments carry the names like the Department of Greece and Rome, of Asia, Africa and Oceania, of the Ancient Egypt, Middle East, Prehistory, and many more. The things that every visitor should definitely take a look at are the Mummy of Katebet, Lewis Chessmen, Sloane astrolabe, Samurai armor, Oxus Treasure, Bust of Ramesses, Easter Island statue and the Parthenon sculptures. One cannot visit London and not visit the British Museum!

Visiting Address: Great Russel Street, WC1B 3DG London

V&A Museum

As the name suggests, this grand museum got its name after the famous Queen Victoria, who is one of the best-known British monarchs of all time, and her husband Prince Albert. It was founded back in 1852 and it is located at the Cromwell Gardens in South Kensington. Covering the area of 12 acres, V&A is the largest museum of the decorative arts on the planet. It houses a stunning number of over 140 galleries which cover the cultures of almost every continent. Visitors can take a look at some of the greatest paintings ever made, like the ones done by Rembrandt, John Russel and many other famous painters. The interesting thing here is that the V&A Museum has the largest collection of the Italian Renaissance paintings and objects outside of Italy itself, and the biggest collection of the Islamic objects in the Western world. There are also a great number of musical instruments, sculptures, metalwork, jewelry and historic costumes.